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Asthma's Impact on Your Child's Life

Topic Overview

Asthma is a challenging condition. It can affect all
areas of your child's life.

Many children with asthma miss school days. When
this happens, have your child call a friend to ask about the work he or she
missed. Doing this both keeps your child's schoolwork current and provides him
or her with the social contact that school provides.

Children may
doubt their ability to participate in sports or band. But if your child
uses his or her medicines and keeps asthma symptoms under control, he or she
will probably be able to participate in activities.

Children may be
embarrassed about taking medicine at school. It may be less embarrassing if
your child can take the medicine at home or is allowed to keep the medicine
with him or her at school. At times, though, it may be necessary for your child
to go to the school nurse or office to take medicine.

Children
may feel they are different from their peers because of the need to avoid
situations that trigger asthma symptoms, such as going to the homes of friends
who have pets. Inviting those friends to your home can help your child interact
with other children. But visitors may carry pet allergens on their
clothing and other items, so be aware that your child may need to increase his
or her use of asthma-control medicines during such
visits.

Children may be concerned about having an
asthma attack at school or around friends. They may
fear that they will die during an attack. If symptoms are controlled daily,
children will have fewer, less severe asthma attacks.

One of the best tools for managing asthma is a daily controller medicine that has a corticosteroid (sometimes called a "steroid"). But some people worry about using corticosteroid medicines because of myths they've heard about them. If you're making a decision about a corticosteroid inhaler, it helps to know the facts.

Most asthma attacks result from a failure to successfully control
asthma with medicines. By strictly following your child's doctor's
recommendations and correctly giving medicine to your child, it is possible
to prevent asthma attacks from occurring in most children. This can greatly
reduce the impact of asthma on your child's life.

Parents sometimes think that their child's asthma is life-threatening
even when it is mild. Many parents of children who have asthma believe that asthma
can affect their child's emotional well-being. You can work with your child's doctor to learn ways of dealing with asthma to take away some, if not
most, of your and your child's anxiety.

Family therapy, such as counseling, may be helpful to children who have
asthma. A review of studies showed that
peak expiratory flow and daytime wheezing improved in
children who had therapy compared with those who didn't and that children showed overall improvement from therapy.1

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How this information was developed to help you make better health decisions.